Trader Joe's Yea/Nay/Meh - 2016

I got a can of plum tomatoes that I found underwhelming. Quite a bit of peel left on the hard tomatoes. I’ll get hem again if I’m desperate, but will try not to.

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I tried the hatch chili/mac and cheese. Just ok imo.

What’s a Kringle?

Another “just ok” vote from me on the Hatch Chili mac & cheese. Nice flavor, but not remotely spicy.

A large (about 10" long) U or 0-shaped cross between strudel and Danish. It’s filled with fruit, nuts, &/or cheese, and iced. In America, it’s a Racine, Wisconsin, specialty.

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NAY: Caramelized Onion Dip (refrigerated) – it used to be great, but they changed the formula some months ago, and now it’s terrible. Kind of a chemical taste. I had hoped it was a one-time fluke, but I tried it again last month and it’s still awful.

Also NAY: The bacon jam. I really wanted to like it, but it didn’t taste bacon-y to me.

Kringles are a flat strudel/danish with filling and icing- very sweet and rich however. Heated ,they remind me of the best pop-tart ever (i do like pop-tarts). Fortunately for my waist-line,on-line they sell for much more than TJ’s charges

Looks like the Red Boat fish sauce is now generally available:

Stacked Eggplant Parmesan last night when I wanted something very quick and easy for dinner. I’ve had the ‘regular’ Eggplant Parmesan before but it comes out of the microwave very loose and spreads out on the plate, not so appetizing. The stacked version has more layers and it seems like the eggplant slices might be thicker too. Stays stacked on the plate too.

Not a dish I’d swoon over or think is special, but certainly worth $3.99. Not the healthiest either, but hey! High in salt and fat:

Also picked up a bag of the riced cauliflower that’s getting lots of attention. A friend of mine, who’s diabetic, has fallen in love with it, so I just emailed myself a link to the topic here on it and will get creative soon.

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YEA to the Blueberry Breakfast Biscuits, a new item. The box has five 210-calorie cellophane packs of 4 thin, crisp cookies each. Each pack 5mg fiber, from wheat, whole wheat, rye, and oats. Despite the name, these delicious cookies would be good to include in bagged lunches, or as a coffee-break snack.

NAY!!! Avoid!
My store was out of plain greek yogurt in the smaller cups (for me to take on the go) so i picked up a few of the flavored one thinking they might be too sweet but would be fine til i could get to another market.
SO BAD.
Like took one bite and threw it away bad. Grainy overly thick texture, not overly sweet but without looking at the label I couldn’t say what fruit it was supposed to be. Same with the second cup, different flavor.
Blech.

small YAY
I was excited the organic vegetarian (it’s vegan) chili came back finally! Without a side by side comparison it’s hard to say exactly what is different but it’s still very good and at about $2 a great bargain- i easily get two meals from a can. Great over a baked potato or with some toppings and corn chips

they’re okay. for the price they’re fine in my opinion. Not as good as Fage but much cheaper. Haven’t experienced any grainy yogurt. It’d be helpful to know what you actually bought if we are to avoid it.

Oh, I’m in nyc, so maybe it’s a regional issue…? Same thing with two different flavors so I don’t think it was just a wonky batch.
Hopefully it’s better everywhere else!

I really like the bacon jam as a flavoring agent in other things (sauces, etc.), in small amounts. I like it less on its own.

Too bad about the caramelized onion dip. I really liked that stuff.

I LOVE the Simply Nutty bars. I think they’re new. Have only tried the nuts/darkchoc/sea salt, but they are divine.

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I’m horribly addicted to the Simply Nutty bars. Like Kind bars (but saltier - wish they would offer some non-sea salt versions) and also cheaper. 5 in a package for $4.99, and unfortunately I eat them all in about 2 days.

I’m not sure if I mentioned it here or on Chowhound, but we really like their Chilli Jam. It’s sweet and spicy, but not burning hot. So far, we’ve had it as a burger condiment, and with a cheese and cracker plate. I also tried it with some cream cheese and crackers, which was nice as well. This weekend, I plan on adding some to BBQ sauce for some pork ribs for a get together appetizer .

That’s the Hot & Sweet Chilli Jam, which is different from the Pepper Jelly. (Pointing it out cause I know someone who mistook the two.)

My family are huge fans so I bring it. I’m not as enthused, but the ingredients are normal and that’s a huge plus. I mix it with goat cheese to make a vegetable dip, but cream cheese works, too.

You can throw it into stir fries, grilled cheese, it works in a lot of situations.

Thanks for the clarification - I wasn’t aware they also carried a pepper jelly!

I picked up a bag of Ghost Pepper, Lattice Cut, Kettle Cooked potato chips this morning. They’re crispy and tasty but not quite as spicy as expected. I can “YAY” them.

As an aside, does anyone know if they’re ever going to have the Ghost Pepper grinders again? I bought two last year and used up one. I “lost” the second one when the genetic mutant moved out of state a couple of months ago. He admitted taking it, but refused to apologize.

Little shit. :smiling_imp:

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